Chapter 9 I Told You Not to Run #2
He knows about that too? I just barely keep my bottom lip from plummeting with shock. “I don’t have to answer to you.” I face forward, and the car jostles.
He leans toward me, his earthy musk cologne swirling my nose. “You do. And as a flight risk, now I need to keep you by my side.”
I turn my head to look at him, his face still dangerously close. I spare a glance at his perfectly shaped lips. I can’t help it.
“See something you like?” he purrs.
“Stop that.” I snap my head forward.
“Stop what?” He leans closer, his breath near my ear, making me wish my hair was down so I could hide behind the caramel-blonde strands.
“Talking with your deep voice like you’re a romance book voice actor.” A sexy one who could portray all kinds of morally grey characters.
“You can stop pretending you don’t want me. It’s more than obvious you do.” His suit jacket touches my bare arm.
I shrug him off and lean away. “I don’t want anything from you, least of all your touch. This body is banned from you from all future activities.”
That dark chuckle leaves him as he straightens and clasps his fingers between his spread legs.
Is he trying to take up more space?
The crowded city, aglow with lights, passes by outside the tinted windows.
“You will live with me like we agreed,” he says, “and play the role of the loving spouse like you agreed. Need I remind you you’re legally bound to these stipulations?”
“I was manipulated or else I wouldn’t have agreed.”
“From what I remember, you initiated the topic and did all the talking. I merely nodded and laid out a few of your father’s terms.”
I open my mouth to disagree but pause, recalling that scene clearly. “You made me think you were gay!”
“You made the assumption. I simply let you ramble. You were doing such a good job.”
I groan, feeling trapped like a feral animal. “You could have told me you were into me, instead of laying it on me on our wedding day.” I glare at his face from the side of my eye. “I wouldn’t have agreed so willingly.”
“With the way you lose your breath when I kiss you, I believe I could have convinced you to agree to anything.”
I like to think that wouldn’t have been true. I cross my arms tighter. “I’m not looking for love in a relationship.”
“What makes you think I am?”
The car bumps again.
I arch a brow. “You admitted to wanting me when you first laid eyes on me three years ago.”
He lowers his head close to mine again. “I believe the word I used was fucking.”
I ignore the tingles his voice and dirty words stir between my legs.
“Neither has to do with love.”
Such an asshole. My breathing accelerates with my anger. I stare out the window, considering leaping from the car into the traffic. We’re on a bridge now. If I survived, I’d have no place to hide.
“Lucky for you, I’m not offering any of those to you ever.”
He snickers and straightens away. “We’ll see.”
Small laughter escapes through my nose. I’ve lived a life of forced chastity. I’ve had years of practice cooling my raging hormones. If he thinks he can seduce me into his bed, he’s in for a surprise.
“What was that snicker about?” he asks like I assumed he would.
“None of your business.”
“Everything you do from now on is my business.”
So smug.
We take an off ramp following signs to a private airport.
“If you think you can cage me, you’re wrong.” This marriage meant I was free.
“Call it what you want. A cage. A castle. Either way, it’s your penitentiary for the next month.”
That draws my glowering face from the window. My pulse climbs. “I’m not going to Scotland. That’s not part of the plan.”
It might have been an idea of mine to join him on his travels to get away from my controlling mother but not under these circumstances.
Not when I know he wants to fuck me and is confident he can.
As strong as my resolve is, I figured I’d stay away from him.
Out of sight, out of mind and loins. Being a virgin, my first time—especially if its mind-blowing—will put me at risk of falling under a love spell.
Nothing good comes from love in a marriage.
“You can’t make me go.”
He arches a brow in challenge. “I can make you do anything with one word. Raphael. I can either leave him alone or ruin both his life and his dad’s.”
Dread settles in my chest. He knows he helped me. Of course, he knows.
“How quickly you forgot about my warning to stay away from him.”
“He’s innocent,” I blurt. “I forced him to help me. Just like you forced me to flee when you threatened to expose my breasts at our wedding.”
“I threatened to do more than that.” A smirk dances in his eyes.
Why does he look and sound like a sexy villain from a fantasy romance book? Worse, why do I find it hot? I hate that I’m as turned on as I am scared by this twisted side of him.
“You understand, don’t you?” he asks, his tone serious. “If you behave. I’ll behave.”
Meaning if I go with him, he’ll leave Raphael and his dad alone.
I nod in agreement, aware of another fact. Even if I disagreed, he would carry me kicking and screaming onto the plane and enjoy doing it.